What is a folk high school?
Folk high schools are educational institutions that offer liberal adult education in both general education and vocational education and training. There are 74 folk high schools and 81 campuses in Finland. The main language in 11 of the schools is Swedish and Finnish in the rest. All the schools get funding from the state and most of them are private.
The folk high schools are regulated by the Act on liberal adult education (632/1998), as well as by their own basic values. The school values can be based on Christian or societal values. Other folk high schools are independent, and a few are meant for special needs students. Over 19 000 students attend folk high schools yearly in different longer and full-time study programmes.
See all the folk high schools in Finland
Studying at a folk high school is community based
The folk high schools are boarding schools, this means that students can live in the dorms if they choose so. Dorm-living, experienced personnel and active students make the studies communal. Students have always been especially positive about the communal feature at folk high schools.
Read more about the practicalities of studying at a folk high school
What can you study at a folk high school?
The folk high schools offer both general education and vocational education and training. You can take part in both long study programmes and short courses. The long study programmes are usually full-time studies that last a semester or a school year. A short course can take a weekend or longer. At a folk high school, you can for example attend a study programme that interests you, finish compulsory school or general upper secondary school, study at the open university, attend education for immigrations or special needs education.